Thursday, May 10, 2012

Car Accidents

This really isn’t a serious blog, but events of the last week made me realize I’d like to say something.

Earlier this week I read about the 81 year old man who was hit by a car while walking on the trail downtown.
(Source)
Out of nowhere.
The driver didn't make the turn tight enough, jumped the curve, and ended up hitting two people on the trail. One of them died.

One of my daily reads, The Hairpin just lead me to this article about a recent incident in NYC. Nobody was punished for any of it.

Then there was the UT student who got hit by the bus last week (the student is okay).(Source)

And this morning, on my way to work, a bicyclist deliberately rushed through a red light to cross the intersection. I sat, one car back, wondering why we weren't moving toward the green light yet. He so easily could have been hit.

While I know car accidents occur commonly, I know I can do more to make sure I, personally, am never a part of one.

Pay attention while you drive. Don’t text. Don’t close your eyes.

I feel like it might be because we do it every day, several times a day, we get lazy, we think it’s easy, and we lose focus. Remember how you felt when you were 16? Or 14 in Kansas (FOURTEEN!) and first learned to drive? Hands at 10 and 2, no radio allowed, tennis shoes required. I had equal focus then as I had taking my AP Calculus exam.

It’s just really sad. People should be outside getting their exercise. Austin is trying to promote green transportation. That's even more challenging if the fear of being hit by a car overshadows everything.